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Season 3 of The Curse of Oak Island (AI-assisted historical reconstruction, not a photograph)

The Curse of Oak IslandSeason 3

Boots on the Ground

13 Episodes • Nov 10 – Feb 9, 2016

Written by Corjan Mol, author & Historical Researcher, Oak Island Team

Artifacts found and discussed in Season 3

14 artifacts were found or discussed in Season 3.

All 14 artifacts

Season 3 in brief

Declaring this the season of answers, Rick and Marty Lagina invest in heavy excavation equipment for the first time, marking a shift from data gathering to active digging. A historic partnership with rival treasure hunter Fred Nolan grants access to his land and the mysterious Nolan's Cross stone formation. The team recruits world-renowned diver John Chatterton, who makes a harrowing descent to the bottom of Borehole 10-X at 235 feet, the deepest anyone has gone beneath Oak Island in decades. His findings are inconclusive but prove the chamber is real. Meanwhile, excavation of the Hedden shaft in the Money Pit area reveals old searcher tunnels, and analysis of a purported Roman sword sparks international debate about pre-Columbian visitors to Nova Scotia.

Key events

  • Roman sword (controversial), garnet brooch setting, ceramic fragments from drilling, 10-X underwater exploration completed

Key people

  • Rick Lagina
  • Marty Lagina
  • Craig Tester
  • Alex Lagina
  • Dave Blankenship
  • Dan Blankenship
  • Fred Nolan
  • Charles Barkhouse
  • Jack Begley
  • Dan Henskee
+ 4 more
  • Peter Fornetti
  • Tony Sampson (diver)
  • John Chatterton (diver)
  • Harvey Morash (diver)

The underground works of Season 3

5 holes and 3 tunnels and areas appear in Season 3 episodes, the deepest hole at 235 ft (10-X). Bars share one scale, 0 to 240 ft.

All 5 holes

Tunnels and areas

Open the full borehole map

Research behind the season

Dan Blankenship and Borehole 10-X (AI-assisted historical reconstruction, not a photograph)
The Hunt

Dan Blankenship and Borehole 10-X

Dan Blankenship gave up everything for Oak Island. In 54 years he drilled the deepest shaft, survive...

Gilbert Hedden and Edwin Hamilton: The Engineers Who Mapped the Oak Island Money Pit (AI-assisted historical reconstruction, not a photograph)
The Hunt

Gilbert Hedden and Edwin Hamilton: The Engineers Who Mapped the Oak Island Money Pit

Between 1935 and 1943, a New Jersey car dealer and a New York University engineer spent over $110,00...

The Knights Templar on Oak Island (AI-assisted historical reconstruction, not a photograph)
The Theories

The Knights Templar on Oak Island

Knights Templar and Oak Island: 20 medieval-dated artifacts cluster on the year 1212, within the ord...

All 13 episodes of Season 3

1 Episode 1 The Hole Truth Fifty years after reading the 1965 Reader's Digest article that ignited their lifelong obsession, Rick and Marty Lagina return to Oak Island for a season they declare will be about getting answers. Their primary objective is reaching the bottom of Borehole 10-X, where scanning sonar the previous year revealed a chamber containing right angles, rectangular openings, and a vertical column… 2 Episode 2 Pipe Down Before a diver can safely descend Borehole 10-X, three corroded riser pipes, each roughly 180 feet long, must be removed from the shaft. A boom truck with a 100-foot crane is brought to the site to lift the first eight-inch pipe in 20-foot sections. Dave Blankenship operates a welding torch to cut each section while Rick and Marty manage the operation from the platform. The procedure works… 3 Episode 3 Time to Dig Rick and Marty Lagina travel nearly 60 miles to Halifax to shop for heavy excavation equipment, marking a pivotal shift from data gathering to active digging. They select a 40-ton excavator, a backhoe for precision work, and a D4K bulldozer. Peter Fornetti, who shares Rick's passion for the mystery, joins them at the equipment yard. The machines are transported across the causeway to Oak Island… 4 Episode 4 The Overton Stone Excavation at the Money Pit area continues as Marty Lagina operates the backhoe to uncover more of the Hedden shaft, the 12-by-24-foot searcher tunnel dug to 125 feet by treasure hunter Gilbert Hedden in 1937. Dan Henskee confirms the wooden wall found the previous day, and Rick stands in the trench guiding Marty's bucket with hand signals. The team locates a second wall at a right angle to the… 5 Episode 5 Disappearing Act Rick and Marty Lagina, along with dive expert John Tapper, meet with certified saturation diver Brad Stabenow, who has worked in over 20 countries and dived to depths of 800 feet using trimix breathing systems. After reviewing the 10-X shaft dimensions, the three sonar targets in the cavern at 235 feet, and the 27-inch passage, Stabenow agrees to attempt the dive. However, the team decides to… 6 Episode 6 Carved in Stone Rick Lagina turns his attention to the mysterious carved stones scattered across the island, beginning with a conversation with Dan Blankenship about the HO stone. In 1921, a large boulder covered with carved inscriptions was found on Oak Island's northern shore; searchers destroyed it with dynamite hoping treasure lay beneath it. In 1936, Gilbert Hedden saved several fragments, including one… 7 Episode 7 The Missing Peace After decades of rivalry between Dan Blankenship and fellow treasure hunter Fred Nolan, Rick and Marty Lagina broker a historic agreement to work together. Rick first obtains Dan's blessing, which Dan gives with mixed emotions, acknowledging that the infighting has accomplished nothing. Fred Nolan, now 87, arrives at the War Room and agrees to cooperate. Nolan reveals his theory about the… 8 Episode 8 Phantoms of the Deep In Traverse City, Michigan, Marty Lagina, Alex Lagina, and Craig Tester meet with side-scan sonar experts and commercial divers Mike Roberts and Dave Delaney, who have over 50 years of combined experience in underwater visualization technology. Roberts and Delaney report that during a previous dive off the coast of Oak Island at approximately 57 feet, they found what they are convinced is a wreck… 9 Episode 9 Columbus Day After weeks of searching for a qualified diver, the team recruits Harvey Morash, a certified deep wreck diver from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, with nearly 25 years of experience in dangerous confined environments, shipwrecks, and underwater cave systems. Harvey reviews the 10-X parameters: 181 feet through the eight-foot casing, then 44 feet through the 27-inch hole wearing two scuba tanks with a… 10 Episode 10 Silence in the Dark The first dive attempt into 10-X begins with Harvey Morash descending in the cage while safety diver Michael Gerhartz follows. Within minutes, the communications system linking Michael to dive supervisor Janine Goyetche on the surface fails completely. Although the surface team can hear Michael breathing, he cannot hear their transmissions. With Harvey carrying no comms equipment to avoid… 11 Episode 11 Sword Play Rick and Marty Lagina, Alex Lagina, Craig Tester, and Dave Blankenship travel to St. Mary's University in Halifax to have the purported Roman sword examined by Professor Myles McCallum, an expert in Roman archaeology. McCallum notes that the sword features Hercules iconography consistent with Roman culture but identifies a bivalve mold construction technique rather than the expected single… 12 Episode 12 Voices from Below With time running short in the season, Rick Lagina pushes forward on multiple fronts while Marty and Craig Tester attend to business. Charles Barkhouse selects a drilling target just north of the previous year's borehole, at a spot he believes based on decades of research is the actual location of the original Money Pit rather than where most searchers have assumed it to be. Using a cyclone… 13 Episode 13 Secrets and Revelations World-renowned diver John Chatterton completes his historic descent to the bottom of 10-X, entering the underground chamber 235 feet below ground while Marty Lagina and Craig Tester, grounded in Michigan by the threat of a hurricane, watch via videoconference. Chatterton discovers a metal drill pipe standing about six feet off the floor, with a six-inch section ending at the ceiling and a…

Keep exploring Season 3

Deepest hole 10-X 235 ft, on the borehole map Top artifact Overton Stone See the full record Research Dan Blankenship and Borehole 10-X Read the analysis
Season 3

Frequently Asked Questions

Question One

How many episodes does Season 3 have?

Season 3 of The Curse of Oak Island has 13 episodes, which aired on the History Channel from November 10, 2015 to February 9, 2016. Every episode has its own summary page, listed below.

Question Two

What was found in Season 3?

Artifacts recorded as found in or discussed during Season 3 include Overton Stone, REDDEM Stone, Metal object from 171-foot void. This page lists all 14, each with its own record.

Question Three

Which holes were drilled or discussed in Season 3?

Season 3 episodes refer to 5 holes on Oak Island, including 10-X, C-1, Hedden Shaft (Shaft No. 22). The deepest record of the season is 10-X, at 235 feet. Each links to its record on the Money Pit borehole map.

Written by
Corjan Mol
Corjan Mol Author & Historical Researcher, Oak Island Team since 2019 TheCurseOfOakIsland.com
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